The present invention relates to floating boat marinas and, more particularly, to floating marinas particularly suitable for use on inland lakes, rivers, and waterways.
In recent years, there has been a dramatic increase in water sport activity and a substantial demand for recreational boats and boating apparatus. This increasing demand has necessitated a corresponding increase in boat moorings and boat marinas along the coastlines and inland waterways. Modernly, there are two types of floating marinas in general use, the ocean marina and the inland marina.
The ocean marinas found along the coastline are usually protected by a natural harbor or a man-made breakwater which shields the marina from the heavy ocean swells. Since the ocean provides a substantially constant sized body of water, the ocean marinas may be permanently located adjacent the shoreline and need only accommodate the vertical movement caused by the incoming and outgoing tidal flow.
As such, ocean marinas are typically formed from a plurality of interconnected floats or pontoons which span between a series of stationary vertical pilings located a short distance offshore. These pilings, which rise to a height substantially above the waterline, cooperate with cut-outs or enlarged apertures formed in the floats, whereby the floats may rise and fall along the length of the pilings in response to the tidal movement, yet be positively maintained in their lateral orientation with respect to the shoreline. Thus, since the floats or pontoons are securely maintained between the stationary vertical pilings, the ocean marina provides a substantially rigid structure having sufficient structural integrity to withstand the current, wind, and tidal forces of the environment.
In contrast to the ocean marinas, the inland marinas are typically disposed in a waterway without the benefit of a breakwater, and must not only accommodate vertical differences in water level but must additionally compensate for substantial boundary or shoreline changes of the waterway.
As will be recognized, the inland waterways, such as rivers and lakes, are subject to extreme long range changes in water level caused by drought or flood conditions wherein the water level, as well as shoreline location, varies substantially throughout the seasons of the year. In particular inland locations where the shoreline gradually drops off into the waterway, these shoreline changes present significant problems, since minor water level changes often cause grounding of boats moored on the inland side of a marina. As such, many inland marinas must be portable in nature to accommodate the changing boundaries of the waterways.
Heretofore, inland marinas have typically utilized a series of floats or pontoons hinged together to form a plurality of boat slips and anchored to the lake bed or river bottom. However, to provide for the lateral movement or portability necessitated by the variances in the water boundaries, the floats are often attached by mooring lines to a series of primary cables layed outward from the shoreline and submerged adjacent the river or lake bottom. Typically, these primary cables are rigidly attached at opposite ends thereof to large anchors and are arranged in a parallel manner such that the floats may be oriented perpendicular thereto, and maintained taut between adjacent primary cables.
With such an arrangement, upon encountering substantial variances in the water level wherein the lake or river boundaries increase or decrease, the inland marina may be moved laterally inshore or offshore by lifting the anchors attached at each end of the primay cables and relocating the cables at a desired location. Typically, this relocation process occurs while boats are docked at the marina and must be accomplished in a very careful manner to prevent damage to the boats caused by slack developed in the cables during the relocation process, which slack may allow adjacent slips to contact one another.
Although these prior art inland marinas have proven useful in their limited application, there exists inherent deficiencies associated in their operation and use. To provide a stabile mooring for the inland marina, the anchors connected at opposite ends of the primary cable must be sufficiently large and possess sufficient weight to prevent movement of the cables along the river or lake bed. Additionally, since, as previously mentioned, the inland marinas typically are not protected by a breakwater, these anchors must withstand the current forces of the waterway as well as accommodate the high wind forces applied to the boats docked in the marina. As such, these anchors are typically large cement bodies weighing upwards of 3,000-5,000 pounds and are submerged to a depth of approximately 50 to 100 feet beneath water level.
Due to the extreme weight characteristics of these anchors, the lifting and movement of the anchors during the relocation of the marina present significant transport problems wherein one or more boats adapted with heavy winch mechanisms must lift the anchors from the river bottom. These transport problems become even more acute when the inland marina is a large structure utilizing a plurality of anchors which all must be moved in unison during the transport process.
Additionally, the prior art inland marinas suffer from their inability to provide a rigid marina structure. As will be recognized, since all of the floats or pontoons are connected to the primary cables by elongate mooring lines often extending more than 50 feet beneath water level, the marina is subject to substantial movement caused by slack in the cable lines. As previously mentioned, during high wind or high current conditions, slack developed in the primary or secondary cables often causes adjacent floats to contact or collide with one another, thereby damaging boats docked at the marina. Thus, there exists a substantial need for an inland marina which will provide a stabile mooring structure, yet be readily portable in nature.